


Pig

by BlackMajjicDuchess



Series: Namesake [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Activism, Disobedience, Gen, Growing Up, Heroism, Parenthood, Pets, Protectiveness, naivete
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-26
Updated: 2014-03-26
Packaged: 2018-01-17 04:00:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1373122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackMajjicDuchess/pseuds/BlackMajjicDuchess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I got the idea in my head one day to bring some of the Naruto characters face-to-face with the thing they were named after for the first time. I thought it might be fun. Also accepting challenges!</p>
<p>Stories will be posted separately but as part of the Namesake series.</p>
<p>Part 3: Pig</p>
<p>Ino spends the day with a piglet, only to later discover that it will eventually become food, to her horror.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pig

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ishimaru_Asuka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ishimaru_Asuka/gifts).



> To issue a challenge, just comment on one of the stories in the series with the name you'd like to see done. The only stipulation is that it HAS to be a name that has a meaning, and it has to be a meaning that is something one can encounter. Example: Madara means "spots." What the heck am I supposed to do with that? On the other hand, Naruto's name refers to some kind of fish cake, which is something he could confront somehow.
> 
> Ino Challenge from Ishimaru_Asuka
> 
> Ino, from Inoshishi = Boar or Pig

At first, she thought they were puppies. But that wasn’t right… they had, like… hooves? What kinds of animals had little hooves, just like tiny little heeled boots? Then one of them squealed and it was so adorably obnoxious that she felt the urge to hug and squeeze it, pat its head and make it feel all better. “Daddy, what are they?” she asked, blue eyes wide with innocence and wonder. Whatever they were, they were the cutest things she had ever seen, and having seen puppies and kittens, that was saying a lot. Those things were utterly adorable.

Inoichi laid his age worn hand on her shoulder and smiled down at her. His daughter was curious and brave, traits that were essential to becoming a Yamanaka Shinobi. She had not yet begun to explore the abilities that were her birthright, but he knew that she would do well. He did not believe that was simply a father’s foolish pride. “Piglets,” he told her. “I thought you might like to see them.” He always loved the way her blue eyes lit up every time she got to play with baby animals. He had made it a personal mission to acquaint her with as many as possible before she set her delicate toes down upon the path to becoming a ninja. Childhood was far too short for the Shinobi children.

“Piglets? You mean, like baby pigs?” she asked, staring up at him.

“Yep, exactly like baby pigs. Would you like to play with one?”

Her eyes glittered like dewdrops. “Oh, wow, you mean it? I can play with one?”

Inoichi glanced over at the farmer. He was a brawny, sun tanned man who raised livestock for the village: pigs, chickens, cows, and goats, among other things. He had a fondness for living things, and was glad to oblige a father’s whim to indulge his only daughter the rare chance to see the litters of new pigs. He nodded, smiling, and bade her to select her favorite.

She chose a caramel covered brown one with a pink nose and dark spots. The farmer told her she could borrow it for the day, and told her how to take care of it, then warned her to be careful not to lose it and to bring it back. He put a little collar on it and tied a piece of rope to the ring, then made a loop in the string and handed it to her. “I will name him Kyandi,” she announced proudly, thrusting her small hand through the loop.

The farmer flashed her one last smile, nodded a farewell to Inoichi, then returned to his work. He was a busy man. Inoichi ruffled his daughter’s hair. “Why don’t you go and show your friends, Ino?” 

“That’s a great idea!” And without further preamble, she walked her new pig friend over to Shikamaru’s house. It was so cute with its twitching, upturned nose, which she noted was shaped more or less like a heart stamp. Its delicate toes were too cute, and made it look as if he was tip toeing everywhere it went. The eyes looked like a person’s, all bright and cheerful and filled with a deep intelligence. And above all, it skipped and hopped beside her as if it could never decide how fast it wished to go, all the while squeaking and grunting and generally making up its own language as it went. “I love you Kyandi,” she told it fondly. “We’ll be the best of friends.”

* * *

 

“Cute,” Shikamaru said to her as he sat down in the grass. The piglet bounded over to Shikamaru, and he rubbed its head. “You should come over when the deer are born, too. They actually look kind of the same. The deer are a little taller.”

“Yeah,” she said on a happy sigh. “The farmer said I could play with Kyandi for the day, and then I have to take him home to his brothers and sisters.”

“It’s a baby pig, right?” Chouji asked. When she nodded, he said, “Huh. I didn’t know people kept them as pets.”

There was something in his tone that made her wonder. Suspicion pricked, and she couldn’t stop herself from asking. “What do you mean? What are they for then?” She looked down at Kyandi. His little tail was flickering back and forth as he nosed about in the grass nearby. A dandelion danced and toppled as he browsed.

Choji blinked at her. It had never occurred to him that she might not know. “Obviously. Pigs are where pork comes from. You know, like at Yakiniku?”

Shikamaru facepalmed. Choji didn’t realize he was being insensitive. He honestly believed that everyone just _knew_. As Ino’s mouth fell open in complete horror, Choji shrank back helplessly. “I’m sorry… I didn’t realize you didn’t know.”

“That’s awful! How could anyone want to do that to perfect, happy little Kyandi? I’m never eating meat again!” With a stifled sob, she scooped up the piglet and left her friends, running off into the middle of the Nara forests. Her friends didn’t follow her. Shikamaru had stayed behind to explain to Choji how best to handle conversations like that one, and Choji was busy feeling like a jerk.

Deep in the forest, she eventually encountered some of the Nara’s famous deer. They were usually shy creatures, but something about her impassioned plight must have interested them. When she crashed sobbing into an open space and Kyandi was delivered from her hands at their delicate hocks, they peered down at her curiously. One of the slender, graceful does approached the little piglet and nudged with her nose. Kyandi squealed a little bit at the prodding, but he wove in between her feet.

From behind her, a tiny, wobbly fawn pranced and leapt, nearly toppling over from the effort. It couldn’t have been more than a day or two old. It hopped over Kyandi, and Kyandi’s tail twitched in response. The two were instant friends, and it cheered her up. “Okay,” she said to her piglet friend. “You can stay here. I’ll just tell the farmer that you ran away.”

Feeling better about things, she returned to the Village. She apologized to the farmer, but he didn’t seem too upset. He had hundreds of pigs, after all. That notion only upset her, though. It meant that hundreds of darlings just like her Kyandi were going to be slaughtered one day to feed pudgy fat boys like Choji.

Something would need to be done about _that_.

* * *

 

That night, Inoichi was woken by a hard knock on the front door. When he answered, he was surprised to see the pig farmer standing there with none other than his daughter, Ino. The farmer’s face was set in a firm line, but he wasn’t angry. Inoichi told her to go to her room, and like a good girl, she obeyed.

From inside her room, Ino seethed. She had failed to release all of Kyandi’s brothers and sisters, but she would try again. And again, and again, for several months afterward. She was the bud of a wonderful kunoichi, and her determination was dominating her. All she saw in her mind was someone helpless in need of her protection, and she was responding exactly the way that she felt she was supposed to.

When the hushed conversation between Inoichi and the farmer concluded, he quietly entered her room. “Ino,” he said gently, “pigs are food animals. I didn’t realize when you were playing with Kyandi today that you’d grow so attached. I thought you knew that pigs were raised for food.”

Her blue eyes flashed with anger. “Of course I didn’t know! What they’re doing there is wrong!” She pointed vehemently at her bedroom door, clearly indicating the poor absent farmer who had been dragged into a moral dilemma. 

“What did you do with the piglet, Ino?” he asked carefully.

She crossed her arms and planted her feet, squaring her shoulders. Her chin jutted upward stubbornly, and he got the distinct impression that being the heroine to a little brown piglet had aged her ten years already. She was growing up way too fast.

Inoichi could tell already that he wasn’t going to get anything out of her unless he used his jutsu, and he didn’t want to do that on his own daughter. He sighed, defeated. “You can’t save them all. There are hundreds of pig farms across the world, and thousands of pigs become food. Cows and chickens and goats and ducks, too. Even cats and dogs in some places. Do you really think that releasing a few pigs is going to change that? He’ll just get more. What difference will it make?”

She took one deep breath, staring her father down. Her chin raised defiantly as she said, “It made a difference to that one.”

**Author's Note:**

> Loosely based on this inspirational story:
> 
> "A man was walking along a deserted beach at sunset. As he walked he could see a young boy in the distance, as he drew nearer he noticed that the boy kept bending down, picking something up and throwing it into the water.  
> Time and again he kept hurling things into the ocean.
> 
> As the man approached even closer, he was able to see that the boy was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a time he was throwing them back into the water.
> 
> The man asked the boy what he was doing, the boy replied,"I am throwing these washed up starfish back into the ocean, or else they will die through lack of oxygen. "But", said the man, "You can't possibly save them all, there are thousands on this beach, and this must be happening on hundreds of beaches along the coast. You can't possibly make a difference."
> 
> The boy looked down, frowning for a moment; then bent down to pick up another starfish, smiling as he threw it back into the sea. He replied, 
> 
> "I made a huge difference to that one!"


End file.
